Water distributing apparatus for evaporative coolers



March 25, 1952 v. c. L EHMANN WATER DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATIVE COOLERS Filed Nov. 12, 1948 INVENTOR.

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BY HIS ATTORNEYS.

VALENTINE C. LEHMANN Patented Mar. 25, 1952 WATER DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATIVE COOLERS Valentine C. Lehmann, Burbank, Calif., assignor to Utility Appliance Corp., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application November 12, 1948, Serial No. 59,624

2 Claims. (Cl. 299-58) My invention relates in general to evaporative coolers and, more particularly, to a water distributing apparatus for an evaporative cooler, a primary object of the invention being to provide an apparatus for uniformly distributing water in such an installation.

It will be understood that while I have elected to consider the presentinvention in connection with an evaporative cooler for purposes of illustration, the invention is not to be regarded as limited thereto since the distributing apparatus of the invention may be employed in other installations for distributing other liquids, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Considering the present invention in connection with evaporative coolers, my distributing apparatus may be used in an evaporative cooler of the type having a s-aturable element, usually a pad of fibrous material, which traverses an air stream movin through the cooler, the function of the distributing apparatus being to maintain the saturable element in a saturated, or substantially saturated, condition so that the air flowing therethrough is cooled by evaporation of water therein as is well known in the art.

Conventionally, such a water distributing apparatus comprises a reservoir or trough having discharge openings therein through which water flows onto the saturable element, the trough being located above the element so that the water flowing through the discharge openings is applied thereto by gravity and percolates downwardly through the element to saturate same.

Such a conventional water distributing appa- '-'-ratus is subject to a serious disadvantage in thateliminates any tendency of the streams emanating-from adjoining discharge openings to merge,

whereby to provide a more uniform distribution.

Morespecifically, an object of the invention is to provide an apparatus having channel means for conveying the water emanating from the discharge openings downwardly toward the saturable element along predetermined and well defined paths to prevent merging of adjacent streams.

Another object is to provide a water distribut- I ing apparatus wherein the aforementioned channel means takes the form of a-plurality of grooves each of which is located beneath one of the discharge openings and communicates therewith so that the water discharged through each discharge opening fiows therefrom into the corresponding groove. Still another object is to provide an apparatus wherein the grooves or channels for conducting the water downwardly are formed by indenting a sheet metal wall in which the discharge openings are formed.

The foregoing objects and advantages of the present invention, together with various other objects and advantages thereof which will become apparent, may be attained through the employment of the exemplary embodiments of the invention which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing and which are described in detail hereinafter. Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a utility View on a reduced scale showing an evaporative cooler which embodies a water distributing apparatus of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of one embodiment of a water distributing apparatus of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along the broken line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along the broken line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an elevational view of a third embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken along the broken line !-1 of Fig. 6.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the numeral Ill designates a suitable evaporative cooler with which a water distributing apparatus ll of the invention may be employed. The evaporative cooler per se forms no part of the present invention and may be of any suitable construction so that the details thereof need not be considered herein. In general, the evaporative cooler I0 is provided with one or more inlets, shown as having the form of inlet grilles l2, and includes an outlet 13, a flow of air through the cooler from the inlet grille for inlet grilles 12 to the outlet 13 being maintained by a motor blower assembly [4. Disposed in the path of the air stream flowing through each inlet grille I2 is a saturable element I5, conventionally a pad of fibrous material. Each saturable element I5 is adapted to receive water from the water distributing apparatus II, the latter being adapted to maintain the element or elements I5 in a saturated, or substantially saturated, condition so that the air flowing therethrough is cooled by evaporation of water as is well known in the art. In the particular construction illustrated, the

ascomc 1 l in more detail with particular reference to Figs..

2 and 3 of the drawing, the trough I 8 i provided with a mounting flange 20 for attachment to the structure of the cooler I0, and is provided with a flange 2| which serves to prevent splashing of water from the trough as it is discharged therein through one of the corresponding pipes l9. In the particular construction illustrated, the trough I8 is approximately V-shaped', although the invention is not to be regarded as limited thereto, and include a generally vertical Wall 22. The latter is provided with a plurality of discharge openings 23. therein above its lower edge 24 and is provided with a plurality of grooves or channels 25' which are located beneath and extend downwardly from the respective discharge openings. Each channel 25 communicates at its upper end with the corresponding discharge opening 23 and extends to the loweredge 24 of the wall 22.

As will be apparent, the channels 25 serve to guide the water emanating from the discharge opening 23 downwardly toward the saturable element therebeneath along predetermined and well-defined paths so as to prevent merging of the streams of water from adjacent discharge openings, which is an important feature of the invention since it makes for more uniform water distribution throughout the saturable element. Also, since the channels 25 extend to the lowermost edge 24 of the wall 22, there i little or no tendency for water streams from adjacent discharge openings to flow along the lowermost edge 24 and merge. When the water distributing trough I8 is employed in connection with the evaporative cooler ID as shown, the net result is more uniform distribution of water throughout the corresponding saturable element l5 and, thus, more uniform cooling of the air flowing through the element.

Although various materials may be employed for the trough I8, I prefer to fabricate same of sheet metal for convenience in manufacture and to form the channels 25 by indenting the sheet metal wall 22, as indicated at 26. The discharge openings 23 and the indentations 26 providing the channels 25 may be formed in a single stamping operation, if desired; Alternatively, the trough l8 maybe formed of a suitable plastic material by a molding operation, or may be formed of other materials.

The embodiment illustrated in Figs. 4' and 5 of the drawing is similar to that described previously and comprises a reservoir, exemplified as a: trough 28, which is provided with a generally vertical wall 29 corresponding to the wall 22 of the trough l8. In the particular construction illustrated, the wall 29 is of double thickness and is formed of a single piece of material which is doubled back on itself at 30 to provide two portions 3| and 32 which contact each other and whichmay be suitably secured together as desired. The wall 29 is provided with discharge As in the case of the channels indicated at 35. The operation of the water distributing trough 28 is substantially the same as that of the water distributing trough l8 and need not be described in detail.

In Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawing, I show a water distributing apparatus comprising a reservoir, exemplified as a trough 38, which is similar to the trough I8, the trough 38 having a mounting flange 4D and an anti-splash flange 4|. The trough 38 is provided with a generally vertical wall: 42 having a plurality of discharge openings 43 therein and having a plurality of channels 44' which communicate with and extend downwardly from the respective discharge openings to the lower edge 45 of the wall 42. As in the case of the channels 25, the channels 44 may be formed by indenting the wall 42 beneath the discharge openings 43, as indicated by the numeral 46.

The water distributing trough 38 differs from the trough t8 principally in that the discharge openings 43 are formed by bending integral portions 48 at the wall 42 inwardly as best shown in Fig. 7 of the drawing. The mode of operation of the water distributing trough 38 is substantially the same asset forth in connection with the trough I8.

Although I- have disclosed a specific application of my invention. and have disclosed three exemplary embodiments thereof for purposes of illustration, the inventionv is susceptible of other applications, and various changes, modifications and substitutions may be. incorporated in the exemplary embodiments disclosed without necessarily departing. from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an. apparatus. for distributing av liquid, a reservoir having an upwardly extending wall of relatively thin, sheet material, said wall being deformed inwardly into said reservoir along horizontally spaced lineswhich extend upwardly from the lower edge-of said wall to. provide a plurality of horizontally spaced, upwardly extending indentations which serve as channels. for conducting. liquid downwardly to the lower edge of said wall, said wall being: provided. with a plurality of horizontally spaced, discharge.- openingsthere-- inv at. the upper ends of said indentations, respectively, said discharge openings overlapping,

said indentations so: that the lower edges of said discharge openings: are" deformed inwardly into said reservoir, said: discharge openings being formed by bending: portions of said wall at the upper ends of. said indentations inwardly into thev interior of said reservoir, said portions of said wall being, bent inwardly along, the lower edges thereof;

2. A. liquid. distributing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the. spacings between said indentations are. large as compared. to the widths of said'indentations;

VALENTINE C. LEHMANN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file? of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS- Number Name Date 173,784 Hayes Feb. 22, 1876 930,926 Bentley Aug. 10, 1909' 2,021,437 Walsh Nov. 19, 1935 2,035,728 Stanton Mar. 31, 1936 2,054,087 Knebusch' et a1". Sept. 15,. 1936 

